Among the Great Apes: Adventures on the Trail of Our Closest Relatives - Hardcover

Raffaele, Paul

3.83

106 ratings by Goodreads

9780061671838: Among the Great Apes: Adventures on the Trail of Our Closest Relatives

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061671835 ISBN 13: 9780061671838

Publisher: Smithsonian, 2010

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“A fantastic book. . . . Anyone who cares about animals will benefit hugely from reading it.” —Shaun Ellis, star of Animal Planet's "Living with the Wolfman" and author of The Man Who Lives with Wolves

Award winning adventure journalist Paul Raffaele’s Among the Great Apes is the first book in over a decade—and possibly the last ever—to take its readers into the lives of our charismatic cousins the great apes in their native habitats. Raffaele, a feature writer for Smithsonian magazine, has been called “nothing less than a one-of-a-kind world treasure” by renowned author Alvin Toffler.

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From the Back Cover:

Join Paul Raffaele, whom the Washington Post calls the "last of the great, old-fashioned adventure writers," is on a journey to meet the last great apes living in the wild.

Humans have long felt a deep attraction to the great apes: bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas. We see a reflection of ourselves in their faces, in their mannerisms, and in their interactions with kin. But we also look to them for contrast. Part of how we define ourselves as human rests with recognizing the differences between us and the great apes, in spite of the substantial amounts of DNA we share.

In decades past, many great primatologists, including Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, and Richard Wrangham, have dedicated their lives to the observation and study of the great apes in their natural habitats. Unfortunately, many of these sheltering places no longer exist. The great apes live in some of the most volatile regions on our planet, lands plagued by civil unrest, poverty, environmental degradation, and corrupt governments.

In Among the Great Apes, acclaimed nature journalist Paul Raffaele goes into the wild to see how our closest relatives are faring today. He takes us through isolated jungles and misty mountain forests, sharing wonderfully intimate observations of ape life paired with the most current research about their behavior.

Raffaele introduces us to leading conservationists and researchers working to save and study the apes. But, best of all, he gets up close to these amazing animals. He describes orangutans fashioning umbrellas from long leaves, a young chimpanzee mothering a "baby" log, and the bonobos' lively ritual of swinging like gymnasts through the treetops before building elaborate nests to sleep in. Moving from Borneo to the Congo, Among the Great Apes brings us to the natural habitats of all the species and subspecies of the great apes—a trip possible for perhaps the last time.

About the Author:

Paul Raffaele has scored many world scoops for such magazines as Reader's Digest, Parade, and Smithsonian, including stories on North Korea, Saharan slave traders, and East Timor's fight for independence. He lives in Sydney, Australia.

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